


Patient 218 + Madness + Matty

by EWM



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016) Whump, Emotional Whump, F/M, Gen, Hurt Angus Macgyver (Macgyver 2016), Mac as Murdoc, Macgyver AU, Whumptober, Whumptober 2020, so much whump
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:50:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26960149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EWM/pseuds/EWM
Summary: How can you fight back and defy the system when everyone thinks your crazy? Mac wakes up in a straitjacket locked in a padded cell. Feedback welcome!My super messed up interpretation of the Whumptober Day 11 promptNo 11. PSYCH 101Defiance | Struggling
Relationships: Angus MacGyver & Desiree "Desi" Nguyen, Angus MacGyver & Matilda "Matty" Webber (MacGyver TV 2016), Angus MacGyver & Murdoc (MacGyver TV 2016), Angus MacGyver/Desiree "Desi" Nguyen, Riley Davis & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), Wilt Bozer & Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 72
Kudos: 42





	1. White Room + Trapped +Psychopath

The harsh glare of the white lights penetrated Mac’s subconscious and woke him up. He opened his eyes, squinting slightly at the fluorescent bulbs overhead. The ceiling above him was white, he struggled to focus his eyes. He felt like he had been drugged, his whole body felt heavy, like he couldn’t move. It wasn’t a like…it was very literal, he couldn’t move his top half at all. He was aware he was laying on his side, on a soft floor, his hair was half covering his face. He tried to moved his hand to push it out of the way, but couldn’t. He looked down and that was when he registered the canvas restraints…a straight jacket. His arms were wrapped tight around his body with his hands folded neatly behind his back. His feet weren’t restrained…thank God, he thought. He was in white scrubs that reached down to his ankles and he was bare footed. He could see the signs of two injection marks on his right ankle.

Slowly he propelled himself up to a sitting position, using his feet to anchor himself on what he realised was a padded floor. He took in the padded room around him, it was small, unsurprisingly, there was the outline of a door directly in front of him with a presumably moulded plastic window. He pushed himself into a standing position and wobbled, but managed to stay on his feet and walked slowly towards the window, he looked out. There was a grey corridor with other doors presumably with rooms like this one on either side. He could see an asleep guard on a black chair at the end. It was all very formal, almost government, but that couldn’t be right. It was possible that he was being held somewhere other than the states, but he’d only been in his house the previous night with Desi? Hadn’t he? God Desi, what had happened to her? if he was here?

He moved back from the window and tried to think, casting his eyes over the room again, sealed everywhere, meant to keep someone in. The extra restraints seemed unnecessary, how had he ended up in this place? who had put him here? All questions to be answered later, first order of business was to get out these restraints, he wriggled his hands around, to get a sense of how tight it was, enough to keep him where he was, but not immovable. Whoever they were had underestimated how skinny he was, Mac thought grinning too himself. He shook his head, trying to focus on the task in hand, he forced the arm restraints apart slightly, pulling the dominant one on top. Then he pulled at the buckles hard, yanking at the restraints, he took a huge breath and tried to puff himself out, he did it several times until he got the desired effect, the previously fairly tight straitjacket was now just starting to loosen around him. He tried to lift one of his arms over his head, but then the guard came in.

 _“Hey what the hell do you think you’re doing?”_ the guard snapped at Mac, Mac doubletaked slightly at the heavy Texas accent and turned around to face him lowering his arms back.

 _“Nothing, please can you tell me where I am??”_ Mac responded. The guy had an American accent, maybe he was still in the US.

 _“Where do you think you are? You stupid or something? They told me you were crazy, but not a moron.”_ The guard snapped again. Mac backed towards the wall, this conversation was not going well.

_“Where do you think you’re going?”_

_“Can you tell me where I am?”_

_“You really stupid aren’t you? How hard did they crack you on the head when they brought you here?”_

_“Just answer me, that’s all I want.”_ Mac had a horrible notion of where he was as his eyes ran up and down the uniformed guard, but needed confirmation.

_“You’re really fucking bossy, you know that? Where do you think you are? You are in the U.S.A, where you’ve been for the last 9 months, although this place is probably nice than the black site you were at? Although maybe not, maybe all the white gets to you. I can’t believe they let a man like you come to a hospital, if it’d been me. I’d have just let you rot or shot you.”_

Mac’s mind reeled at what he was being told, black site? hospital? the States? where was Webber? the Phoenix? Something was horribly wrong in all this. The guard continued to advance on him now brandishing a needle at him. Mac started to slide around the wall, eyeing the still open door, but his would be captor saw it too and stood directly in Mac’s path. Mac held up his still bound arms in a pleading, non-threatening gesture.

_“I need to speak to someone.”_

_“Don’t we all?”_

_“No please, I need to speak to Matilda Webber of the Phoenix Foundation. Can she come here?”_

_“Stop making demands on me, you’ve got no right. Now hold still.”_

Now Mac had never been exactly good at holding still, but now was probably the worst time to issue that kind of instruction. Mac made a break for it, pushing the guard with his shoulder. He failed, he felt the needle go into his neck and the drug enter his system

 _“I need to see…Matilda Webber of the Phoenix Foundation…Matilda We…”_ And he was out, once again asleep on the soft padded floor.

**

As Mac slept in a white room, Matilda Webber received a phone call in her office at the foundation. She was told patient 218 desperately wanted to talk to her and could she come down to the Bray’s Psychiatric Facility in Texas at her earliest convenience. She groaned internally but agreed and put the phone down. She put her head in her hands and rubbed her tired eyes, a conversation with a crazy person was something she didn’t need, but he periodically have something useful to say in between all the babble, so she knew she had to go.

**

Mac woke up in a similar position to the one he had been in before. He was still in a straitjacket and he had a monster headache. This time however the guard who had so helpfully knocked him out the first time round, was now staring down at him.

_“Looks like it’s your lucky day crazy. Your Matilda Webber is here to see you, just like you asked.”_

Mac blinked, not quite comprehending. The guard hauled him and pushed him towards the open door, he didn’t remove the straitjacket. Mac was shoved along a set of grey corridors, his eyes scanned them taking in security cameras and a set of numbers on the doors they passed and the guards, there were a lot of guards, all heavily armed, no guns, but heavy duty tasers and batons as far as he could make out. The floor was freezing cold on his bare feet. There were no windows, just endless doors and grey corridors, the guard prodded him in the back every so often to make him move faster. Eventually he was pushed into a small room with a grey table in it. The walls were stone, but the metal floor remained. The table had an elaborate set of handcuffs and chains on it in a pile. The guard grabbed Mac’s shoulder and pushed him into the centre room.

_“Don’t try anything funny.”_

Mac didn’t responded, he needed to know exactly what was going on and he didn't fancy a taser to the back either. He felt the guard undo the buckles of the straitjacket one by one, they were metal by the sounds of it. Mac felt his arms release and the canvas material loosen. The guard roughly pulled his arms out and put them out to the front

 _“Don’t move.”_ The guard snapped in Mac’s ear, Mac did his best not flinch.

The guard undid all the extra straps on Mac’s back and then moved around to the front and the pulled the garment off fully. Mac virtually purred, he stretched his cramped fingers and aching arms. He wiggled his arms around in the air, cracking his shoulders and stretching his stiff muscles. The produced fury from the guard

_“I told you not to fuckin’ move.”_

He grabbed Mac’s wrists and placed them at about the level of his stomach, the guard kept a tight hold on Mac and grabbed the mess of handcuffs and chains on the table. Snap, snap, on they went onto Mac’s wrists, the chain went around his waist. Another chain went to the floor attached to a second set of handcuffs around his ankles. Mac simply stared while all this was happening, he couldn’t really believe it. He desperately wanted there to be some innocent explanation for all this. It made no sense, he wasn’t in prison, that was obvious, but he was being treated like a psychopath. The guard eventually stood up and tugged the chain in front of Mac to make him move forward. He stumbled slightly as the restraints holding his feet were close and he could only take very small steps. He didn’t have to go far; he was ushered into yet another room. This one held another table and a single chair with a massive see-through plastic rectangle covering the top half of the room. It looked like one half on an interrogation room. Mac saw there were two empty chairs on the other side, the guard pulled him towards the seat. When Mac sat down, the guard undid the chains again, attached the one from his ankles to a hook in the floor and a section of the chain from his waist and hands to a similar hook and hole in the desk. Mac did an experimental tug with his hands; he was very much stuck again. He waited a few minutes, remaining silent, he sensed this guard was not going to appreciate questions, he simply took in the room again, the plastic window, the stone walls, dusty and ill-kept, this room hadn’t been used in a while. The seat was bolted to the floor, moulded plastic again. Mac shivered in his hospital scrubs.

At that point Matty Webber opened the door on the other side of the plastic and sat down. Mac leapt up, feeling the cuffs cut into his wrists, the guard moved to grab him

_“Matty, you’re here! What’s happened? Why am I in here? You have to get me out. Explain to me what happened? How did I get here?”_

The guard slammed him back into the seat, Mac struggled against the vice like grip on his shoulder

 _“I would imagine why you’re here is obvious. Unless you’ve had a change of heart and your madness has suddenly gone away and you feel like going back to the black site.”_ Webber responded, a cold smile on her lips.

 _“What, I don’t understand? A black site? What am I suppose to have done? Matty please, tell me what’s happening.”_ Mac pleaded struggling against the guard

_“What are you suppose to have done? Don’t tell me you’re ‘madness’ has grown into amnesia. Don’t blame games with me Murdoc, if you’ve got something useful to tell me, spit out and what…”_

_“Murdoc?? Why are you calling me that? Matty, please it’s me, it’s Mac, you know that don’t you? You know it’s me right?”_

Webber snorted

_“This is low even for you Murdoc. Give me whatever intel you’ve got and what you want. I’m not in the mood for make believe.”_

_“It’s not make believe! Matty I swear, it’s me. Something is…something is very wrong. I just woke up here, but I don’t III I don't remember.... Matty, come on tell me you recognise me, please.”_ Mac begged Webber looking her right in the eyes, still pulling hard against the restraints and the guard. The guard gestured to Webber offering to take Mac away, but Webber shook her head. Whatever game this was, it was weirdly fascinating and elaborate even for Murdoc. She paused, staring at him through the plastic

_“So you’re MacGyver, are you? I highly doubt that, you see, I’ve already got one of those. He’s rather good, he’s the reason you’re in here after all. I don’t fancy trading him, he’s very useful to have around.”_

Mac stared at her

 _“Mac could you come in here for a moment”_ Webber called back, then the door opened and Murdoc was standing there, dressed in black jeans and sweater and his signature leather jacket, smiling at MacGyver through the plastic.

 _“Hello Murdoc, what can I do for you today?_ ” Murdoc responded smiling at Mac

_“What, that’s….that’s Murdoc!! I’m MacGyver, Matty, please listen to me. Something’s horribly wrong. I swear to you Matty, I’m Mac, I’m Angus MacGyver. You know me Matty, you’ve know me for years…you knew my father. II”_

_“Don’t talk about my father..”_ Murdoc snapped through the plastic. Webber putting a steadying hand onto Murdoc’s arm

_“It’s fine Mac. What do you want Murdoc? Why did you bring me here? “_

_“Don't! Stop calling me that. I’ve already told you Matty, I’m Mac, he’s Murdoc. He’s the psychopath, he’s the one who’s suppose to be in here, not me. Matty, please listen. I need your help, I need to get out of here, to try and figure out what’s wrong…III, you know me and I know you, the Phoenix Foundation, Bozer, Riley, Jack and Desi. The first time Murdoc went after us, he came after me, he used powered rifles to shoot at us. Riley stopped them, when he attacked the foundation, I blew a hole in one of your floors. III..”_

Webber cut him of and sighed, she gestured for her and Murdoc to leave

_“All information you could have got from any number of sources. Maybe you really have gone mad Murdoc, who knew that was even possible? This trip was a waste of time. Mac why don’t you wait outside?”_

Murdoc smiled again at Mac and nodded and departed. The guard unhooked Mac from the desk as Mac fought against him. He wracked his brains for something only Matty would know, only they would know as a duo. As Webber approached the door to leave

 _“Matty wait!!”_ She paused, but did not turn around

_“When we…when we to see if your husband was still alive…Ethan. We spoke on the plane, you didn’t know what we were going to find, you know it was dangerous for us all. I sat opposite you and said I wanted you to know that I’m going to do everything that I can to make sure you get the answers you deserve, just like you did for me.”_

Webber paused, her gripped the door at the memory, but she still didn’t turn around.

_“Matty please!! How could Murdoc possibly know that? It was a conversation we had alone, everyone else on the plane was asleep. It was just…Matty…please look at me…please it’s me!!”_

Webber remained at the door as she listened to Mac shout her name again and again in increasingly desperate tones as the guard dragged him from the room.


	2. Mask + Doctor + Cuffs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part Two of the terrifying AU reality where Mac wakes up as Murdoc :D Thanks for the enthusiastic response the first time round. 
> 
> This bit is written with Whumptober Day 13 in mind, let me know what you think :D
> 
> No 13. BREATHE IN BREATHE OUT  
> Delayed Drowning | Chemical Pneumonia | Oxygen Mask

As the guard dragged Mac out of the room still calling for Matty, he tripped crashing to the floor tangled up in the too short chains and cuffs, bruising his knee and shin. The guard fell with him, as he did Mac spotted what he needed, a tiny clip on the guard’s belt. Mac grabbed it tucking his hands into his stomach, pretending to be doubled over in agony, balancing on his haunches. That wasn’t such a huge leap as pain was now shooting up his legs from the jarring fall on the floor. The guard took a couple of minutes to get himself up cursing and swearing. He tried to grab Mac’s shoulder to force him to move, but Mac refused, the guard tried again and still Mac wouldn’t move, on the third attempt Mac stood up and the chains and cuffs dropped to the floor with a clatter.

The two guards in the room stared in disbelief for a few seconds, that was all Mac needed he charged at one and threw out his leg at the other. He forced one of them against the table slamming the guy’s head into the metal. He rounded on the second man and threw a right hook knocking him out, by that point the man on the table had recovered and went to grab Mac. Mac in turn picked up the chains from the floor and swung them round his head like lasso catching him the around the waist, he managed to catch the guy's hands and snapped the cuffs onto his wrists for good measure. Mac filched the ID and raced through the opposite door.

He immediately started running, he didn’t really know where he was going, but he had to find a way out, he reasoned from where the meeting room was with Matty that the entrance had to be on the far left somewhere, but not much beyond that. He got through three corridors before he came across his next guard, the guard made to smash Mac in the side with his baton, but missed. Mac managed to trip him and ran on, the second guard he encountered, he managed to grab his taser and get him in the stomach. By the time Mac encountered the third guard, a piercing alarm had gone off. The man was huge and pressed the emergency lock down on the door he was protecting before Mac even got close. Mac tried to dodge around the guy, but he managed use his baton to get Mac in the knee, Mac fell on the floor but pushed himself away and threw a punch that the guard blocked with one hand. Mac pulled away again and tried to come back the way he came, but by that time, guards started pouring in from the opposite door. They all went for him with their batons, he managed to block some of the blows, but he felt his ribs crack as more and more men piled on him, kicking and hitting him, he eventually collapsed on the floor, coughing blood and finally passing out.

**

When Mac woke up again he gasped, he was restrained again, he could feel it. Something was over his face, he couldn’t move his hands or feet. He struggled in vein panicking and rocking his body back and forth.

At that point a man that Mac realised was a doctor entered the room

_“Please try and calm down Mr Murdoc, you gave us quite a scare back there.”_

Mac groaned at the name once again, but it did help his brain click into gear. He realised that he was now in a hospital room, on a normal bed, there was an IV in his arm, his hands and feet were thank god not in a straight jacket, but were restrained to metal bars on each side of the bed. His chest felt like it was on fire and he realised what was covering his face was an oxygen mask.

_“Now please try and calm your breathing out, it’ll help. You’ve got a lot of broken ribs in an out, in and out.”_

Mac complied, partly because he couldn’t do anything else, he tried to think calm thoughts and get his breathing and his worries under control.

_“Good, Mr Murdoc, good.”_

Mac gestured frantically to see if he could get the doc to get the mask off his face, the doctor obliged. Mac gasped again with relief

_“Not as fond of masks I see as you reputation gives you credit for?”_

_“What no. I’m not, look never mind. Look Doctor, I need to speak to Matilda Webber again, please. She was here only an hour ago, maybe less. Please can you get her back here. I need to speak to her again alone, without her....her companion with her.”_ Mac pleaded lifting his head up

The doctor shook his head

_“I really don’t think that’s appropriate, Mr Murdoc”_

_“Please stop calling me that, that’s not my name.”_

_“What should I call you then?”_

_“It’s MacGyver, you can call me Mac.”_

_“Okay “mac”_

Mac groaned at the patronising tone and lent back on the bed. The doctor clearly irritated at the response, replaced the mask on Mac’s face. Mac shook his head furiously, trying to knock it off

_“I don’t think that’s wise “mac”. You’ve got some serious injuries and will need help breathing for a while. You’ll be stuck in this bed for a few days, at least until I say your well enough to move.”_

Mac tried to talk through the mask, virtually begging the doctor to remove it, but it came out as a garbled muffle. The doctor looked down at him sadly and moved towards the IV in Mac’s arm, he injected a sedative into it. Mac saw it and tried yank his arm to knock the IV out, the doctor took a firm hold of Mac’s wrist and held it there until he saw the liquid go in.

_“Try and sleep, it’ll help.”_

_“No…no I can’t breathe..I have too. I can’t breathe.”_ Mac murmured underneath the mask as the drugs forced his brain and his body to sleep.


	3. Rainbow+ Fishing Hook

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This whole story started because of my super messed up interpretation of a whumptober prompt so here’s a new bit, based on a new prompt :D (RE WRITE VERSION) 
> 
> No 20. TOTO, I HAVE A FEELING WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE  
> Lost | Field Medicine | Medieval

Mac woke up restrained again for the third time in as many days. He was still in the hospital bed with an oxygen mask on his mouth. He was struck that the restraints around him had increased. Someone had put a heavy reinforced leather strap across his neck and his chest. One part of his brain was really fascinated, they must have been really afraid of him to go to so much trouble….no not him, Murdoc. They were afraid of Murdoc, not him. Murdoc, Murdoc, that miserable psychopath, how had he managed this? How had Mac ended up here? He felt lost and terrified and horribly confused in about equal measure. Seeing Matty’s face, her lack of recognition made his heart hurt, he thought of all them Matty would be the one to recognise him somehow, even in this nightmarish hole.

But no, she looked at him with the same contemptable expression that she reserved for Murdoc, it was all now directed at him…because he was Murdoc or people perceived him like that? Did he actually look like Murdoc? He tried to crane his neck up again to look at his hands and the rest of him, but all he did was nearly throttle himself. He didn’t think he looked like Murdoc, but when he’d woken up initially, he hadn’t really taken his own appearance in. He’d just reacted and ran or tried too. Mac tried to run through scenarios in his head, was it some kind of drug? Some kind of experimental drug that was making him see a massive hallucination? Possible, very possible, it would certainly explain the scale of the whole thing or a psy op maybe akin to what they had done to Codex? But what about Matty, she was the key. She had seen him, and he had seen her. He was in no doubt, it was absolutely her and she looked at him like he was dirt on her boots. 

A nurse walked in at that stage, she was small and skinny and looked terribly young, even to Mac’s eyes. She had a small tray with him, IV bag, thermometer, drugs of some kind in little bottles. Mac’s eyes followed her around the room, she was quiet, singing to herself ipod ear phones in her ears, going through everything, carefully, checking through it all. As she span around, Mac had the good sense to shut his eyes and pretend to be asleep. He listened to her move the table around, still singing and humming to herself. He could just faintly hear the the music from her ipod; “over the rainbow”. Well Toto we certainly aren’t in Kansas anymore, he thought bitterly. He felt her hands remove the strap at his neck and his chest, he breathed a sigh of relief as they had been tight. After that she took the restraints off his wrists, but then there was a pause. He heard curse quietly to herself and then he heard the table move again and the door shut. Mac risked opening one eye but he was very much alone. She had gone out, leaving the table and all her equipment behind and more importantly the keys. Mac took in the room again categorising and calculating, he panicked a little when picked up on the security camera, but he reasoned if he tried to take it out, they would notice faster. Judging by the conditions of the room, the security was probably more lax in whatever part of this 'hospital' he was in. He'd heard no guards as she'd opened the door, so it wasn't manned. If this place followed standard protocol for hospitals with high security patients, government or otherwise, He thought he maybe had 20 minutes before the nurse was missed or whatever security guard monitoring the cameras noticed. After all this his eyes finally settled on the IV drip and more importantly the pole it was attached to. He sat up flinching as he felt the bruises covering his back and stomach and at least three broken ribs yelling for attention. He also pulled the oxygen mask of his face with a shudder. Mac put the pain aside and got to work pulling out the IV out of his arm, his hands were shaking slightly from whatever cocktail they had given him, so he made a bad job of it, spraying blood across the floor and his fingers as he opened up his arm, but he did get it out. He stretched up and pulled the IV bag off the off the hook it sat on it's pole. He dropped the bag on the bed and grabbed the pole with it's wonderfully perfect little swinging hook, he stretched out his arms and his body as much as he could holding the pole out in front of him, using it like the weirdest fishing line he'd ever had. The 'perfect' hook was a few centimetres short of what he really needed it to be, he held it there in place gently just above the keys and lowered it very slowly swinging the hook back and forth waiting for his catch. His arms were shaking with the effort, come on, come on he thought and then suddenly he had them! He pulled the pole back to him on the bed and unhooked the keys, he proceeded to undo the restraints on his feet. He slid off the bed as quietly as he could. That nurse would be back soon and he would need to get round her. He got up and stood in one corner of the room, waiting. The nurse returned soon after, she stopped dead when she saw the empty bed, the blood and the iv pole and she saw him. 

_“Please don’t look so scared, I’m not who they say I am. I’m not a murderer or a psychopath. I just need to get out of here and…find my friends”_

He moved closer to her; he realised his appearance wasn’t exactly ideal. His hair was a mess and he was pretty sure his face was bruised and hollow. He had bruises and cuts everywhere and he had only had a hospital gown, hell he did look like a crazy person and a psychopath. But part of him desperately wanted to prove to someone, anyone that he wasn’t Murdoc. She froze as he came closer to her, still holding up his hands to show her that he really wasn't a psychopath. He also needed to grab the keys from her and her pass, he’d need a way out of this place and he’d have to find some clothes as well. He held out his hand for the keys, she handed them to him, but then she screamed.

He grabbed her and held his hand over her mouth and continued to scream, he looked around in a panic for anything to silence her. His eyes fell on the plastic tubing from the IV and then he had an idea, a nasty idea, a very Murdoc idea. Hell, if they wanted Murdoc, then he'd give them a little Murdoc. He dragged the poor still screaming nurse towards the bed, he eyed the long tubing, he wasn't sure if it would even work, if he could do it with enough threat probably, he didn't have too many other options. He finally let his hand off the poor screaming girl's mouth, she instantly try to run, he tripped her and she felt to the floor with a crash. She tried to crawl away and he stopped her with his foot, she whimpered and cried underneath him as he did what needed to do with the tubing. Once he ready, he knelt down, keeping pressure on one of her 

_"Get up"_ he snapped

She did still crying hysterically and loudly. He was behind her and slipped the now tied together tubing around her neck

_"This is a constrictor knot, the more you scream and cry, the more you choke, so you going to stop screaming right now aren't you?"_

The nurse was silent, gasping quietly

_"Good, now tell me you have a phone in the place right?"_

She nodded

_"Anyone on call with you today?"_

Again she nodded

_"Who?"_

_"His name's Cayden, he's a nurse like me."_ She gasped between each word. Mac felt horrible doing this her, but it would be over soon and he just needed to disappear, that was it. 

_"You're going to call him and get him to come in here."_

Her eyes widened at him

_"Call him in here and I'll let you go."_

She nodded and fumbled in her pocket, she grabbed her phone and dialled, still gasping as she did it

_"Hey Caden, could you come into patient 218's room, I need a hand with something."_

_"Hey babe, I'll be right there."_

She wrung off and dropped the phone, Mac didn't moved, he kept the tubing round her neck tight, but he kept one of his fingers in the knot just to make sure he didn't do her any actual damage. Cayden arrived two minutes, later, he was horrified by what he saw. His girlfriend in the hands of a mad man, being throttled. Mac took the measure of him, about the same height and build, black hair, green eyes, the ID was going to be a nightmare, but he'd worry about that later. 

_"Strip"_ he ordered

Cayden looked confused and terrified

_"I need your clothes as I'm walking out of here. I mean it now!"_

_"Kayeleigh it's okay, I'll do as he asks...I promise babe, it's going to be fine."_

Cayden lost the scrubs and his shoes with shaking hands , he pushed the clothes towards Mac and stood their shivering. Mac smiled in a way that was unfortunately a little bit akin to Murdoc.

_"Okay very good, both of you. Now Cayden, you're going to walk over here and sit on this bed, that's it, very good. Now you're going to sit on the bed and your girlfriend is going to strap you in. If you don't do what I ask, I'll throttle her right in front of you, I mean it. I'll snap her neck so fast, you won't be even have time to do anything."_

Cayden walked over to the bed Mac had been in and sat on it, slowly Mac let Kayleigh stand still with the tubing around her neck, she fumbled slightly, still gasping a little. She picked up the keys that Mac had left on the bed, when he'd initially gotten out and started strapping the terribly frightened young man in; feet, wrists, chest and neck. 

_"Very good, both of you."_

Mac then true too his word removed the constrictor knot from the woman's neck, she immediately grabbed her neck and tried to run from behind. 

_"Not so fast you."_

He grabbed her and kept his arm around her neck and he flicked the tubing out with his other hand so it was now like a long twisty rope. He used it tie Kayleigh's hands together at the back, he went as tight as possible and elaborate as possible (he'd always had a gift for knots). When he was done he spun her around, she was now weeping and he could see a faint pink mark around her neck, again he felt a stab of guilt, but he didn't let it show. 

_"Very good, no need to cry, go sit with your boyfriend on the bed."_

Kayleigh backed up and perched, still crying quietly. Mac then moved towards the pile of clothes, he lost the hospital gown, he grimaced slightly when saw the his chest and bare arms, cuts and bruising everywhere. However he pulled on the scrubs and shoes and felt in the pockets, ID, check, wallet check, even a locker key. He looked up again 

_"You Cayden, back stairs out of this place? Route now."_

Cayden stuttered the words out as fast as he could and Mac nodded. He grabbed Kayleigh's dropped phone and was about to depart when Cayden called

_"Hey what about us?"_

_"What about you?"_

_"What are you going to do to us?"_

_"Do to you? Nothing, you did what I asked and I've let you go. It's as simple as that."_

Mac looked at the young duo and pushed away the last fragments of guilt, he shut the door as quietly as he could and left. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I've had a re-write of this, what are you thoughts??


	4. Electricity + Blood + Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Finally a new chapter on this story, sorry it's taken a while
> 
> Mac makes his escape (with a little bit of whump) and Matty speaks with "MacGyver" in the war room. This is my first go at writing Murdoc, so let me know what you think!

Mac raced down the pale grey corridor, fortunately he didn’t run into anyone. He supposed that very few staff were actually allowed up here with dangerous criminals such as himself or rather Murdoc locked away. He found what he hoped was the right door, it was unmarked, but he had no real no way of knowing. He only had the terrified nurses’ word at this point; the memory of the kid’s face span around in Mac’s mind and filled him with guilt, him and the girlfriend. He did his best to console himself saying that he would never of _actually hurt them_ and that it was just a rouse to get what he needed. Still the look of fear in their eyes when they stared at him was something that was going to haunt him until the end of his days, that was assuming he had actually survived this little adventure.

How had Murdoc pulled all this off? Mac pushed such horribly complicated thoughts aside and opened the door. It revealed a set of grey dingy staircases in both directions. Clearly no patients or prisoners were taken this way as it was not clean or desperately well lit, a few well placed bulbs and light switches covered in dust, fortunate for him. No one was on the stairs either so Mac sped down, ignoring his protesting legs and the various other aches and pains across his body. His footsteps echoed on the empty stairs, the tap tap of the plimsolls he had stolen made a bizarre sound against the discoloured steps. His head began to ache with the constant spinning so he gripped the metal rail to give himself a little bit of support. He was half way down, when he registered a new noise, guards. He looked up, guards armed with batons, cattle prods and guns barrelling after him and then as if right on cue an alarm started to sound. Then they started firing, MacGyver did not wait to find out what was in them, he swore in frustration and kept running, the stair case was vast and it would take some time for the guards to catch up to him, but it was more than doable.

Mac increased his speed, his heart hammering, his eyes darting across the walls as he ran looking for something, anything that would slow them down. Then he saw it the lights, he grabbed the plastic square on the wall that surrounded one of the light and yanked it off. He pulled the bulb off and tossed it to the floor extracting the wiring, he tore at the plastic exposing the metal, he looked up again for a brief moment, there they were all still were running and firing. Mac swore again and stumbled backwards as a bullet from a particularly good shot grazed him, but then was up again in an instant. He touched the wiring to the metal stair handle keeping his other hand well back, a painful but not fatal electric shock ran through the staircase bar and half of the guards collapse and screamed. Mac smiled in spite of the situation and continued on. He managed to get the bottom of the stairs without catching another bullet or a tranquilizer dart or pass out from blood loss. But the pain in his arm was increasing and his headache was getting worse and a substantial blood trail was now on the floor.

Mac half fell, half pushed open the large door. It creaked along revealing an outdoor carpark and rubbish bins. He presumed that this was where the staff came to smoke as his eyes took in the multiple cigarette buts and ash around the edges of the building. Next Mac went for one of the vast rubbish bins, registering they were in fact on wheels. He put the shoulder of his wounded arm against and heaved. He sucked in his breath as pain came spiralling upwards (let alone the fact that putting an open wound against a dirty rubbish bin wasn’t a good idea either). He managed to manoeuvre the colossal plastic box against the door, blocking the remaining soldiers at least for a little while.

After that Mac fumbled in his pockets for the nurse’s keys, there were maybe a dozen cars in the area. He found the black fob and pushed on it. He sighed with relief when a bashed old AMC flashed up. Mac thought this nurse must have done an upgrade, no classic cars he knew were remote activated like, particularly cars that were over 40 years old. MacGyver stumbled towards the car and pulled open the door. He got the thing into gear and drove away.

**

The hospital was in an absolute uproar at MacGyver or rather Murdoc’s escape. Cayden and his girlfriend were found shaking with fear and gibbering like fools; talking about knots and being strangled. The guards and extra soldiers that were available for ‘events’ like this had desperately pursued the escapee but had been both metaphorically and literally thrown back by the electrocuted staircase handle and the blocked door. Eventually they made it out, but of course Mac was long gone. There was a lot of cursing and screaming as various senior doctors argued about how this possibly could have happened and how they were all at terrible risk because of the danger that ‘Murdoc’ posed. And of course Matty Webber was called.

It was one of the few times that Webber openly cursed after that phone call from the hospital. Her previous visit had thrown her through a loop, how could Murdoc possibly know about that conversation on the plane??? And Mac, well he’d seemed a little bit off. Distracted at distant, almost cold, not that was so unusual for him. Whenever he was on a mission, Mac did tend to become wrapped up, almost obsessed with what he was doing, rather than explaining his plan. The number of times Webber had told him off for it, she’d lost count. But this, this was something different. She just couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Whatever her own worries about Mac, he had to be told

So she called him into the war room alone, he breezed in with an easy confidence

_“What can I do for you on this fine day Matilda?”_

Matty raised her eyebrow

_“I mean Matty, I’m sorry, caught me off guard. I’ve been working on a little project and it’s got me distracted and very excited.”_

_“Cool, the excitement Mac, I’ve got some bad news.”_

_“Yes?? Don’t keep me in suspense.”_

_“Murdoc’s escaped.”_

_“What??? I thought you told me he was at a secure facility. Clearly not that secure if he Ma…Murdoc can escape.”_

_“I know Murdoc, but somehow he’s managed to escape. We’ve got every available resource. I’m telling you because…to warn you. And to tell you not to do anything stupid.”_

_“Me Matilda? Why would I do anything stupid?”_

_“Because I know you, you’ll go running off out some strange repressed guilt and try and try and catch him.”_

_“Never, I have far too much of a regard for my own life and frankly if I did go after him. He wouldn’t stand a chance.”_

Webber was momentarily non-plussed by the response. That tangled up feeling about Mac was back with vengeance, she still couldn’t quite describe what was wrong. It wasn’t simply he was saying all the wrong things, it was also he seemed to be…almost enjoying it. Murdoc realising something was wrong, shifted his tone drastically to Webber, he could go after Mac later, he needed to at least temporarily fix this so these idiots wouldn’t suspect anything

_“Nonetheless…Matty…I promise to do as you ask, stay put. I assume that is what you want me to do?”_

_“Yes Mac, stay put, but also, you’ve stepped into Murdoc’s shoes before, successfully. I want you to try and think like Murdoc again, what you do if you were in his position? Help the techs track him as quickly as possible.”_

Webber watched Mac snort at some private joke that he wasn’t going to let her in on. But he did agree to try and help. After that Webber departed for her office, her mind was on the rest of the team; she didn’t think there was any point in telling them when they were halfway across the world. Hopefully this could be resolved without them having to rush back. Part of Matty’s brain was telling her that this bullshit and would come back and bite her soon enough. But she did her best not to think about that problem just yet. Instead she logged onto her emails to watch the security footage of Murdoc’s escape, that the hospital had reluctantly sent over.

She observed the terrified nurse and her boyfriend, she watch Murdoc almost throttle them, the horrifying murmuring, the threatening stance. Her heart went out to them, although she was struck by the fact that Murdoc didn’t actually kill them, uncharacteristically kind and rational on his part. But the footage in the hall was what really shocked her. She saw through the grainy clip as ‘Murdoc’ pulled out the light and exposed the wiring and touched the railing. He looked up at one point and his eyes unknowingly went to the camera and for the briefest of seconds Matty could have sworn it was MacGyver staring back at her, frightened and hurt, but Mac none-the-less.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did Matty's discovery come too earlier? Should I wait a bit longer???


	5. Red Hair + Glasses + Alone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mac has escaped and tries to think what to do next...

Mac drove the car at a furious pace as he sped away from the hospital cum prison (he knew it had a proper name but that’s how he thought of it). Part of him was aware that this was not the wisest decision, a speeding car racing away from a high security government facility was…well it would have been faster to put a glowing red neon sign above his head showing where he was. But his desire to escape overrode his good sense. He’d been driving for over an hour, not really paying attention to where he was going when he realised no one was chasing him. He found himself alone on a highway surrounded by dust and the odd scrubby plant. The kind of place that you’d really want to avoid in any other circumstance, but for Mac it was a relief and entirely logical. The government wouldn’t want to run the risk of patients like Murdoc or himself he supposed escaping into the real world, so the answer was to take the world away or civilisation at least.

He slowed and parked the car on the side of the road. Mac lent his head against the steering wheel. He was convinced that he could hear his own heartbeat, it was hammering so hard inside his chest. Of course, MacGyver’s rational mind pointed out that he couldn’t actually hear his own heart without the aid of a stethoscope, merely register the vibrations. The adrenaline that had kept on his feet for the last few hours was fading fast and his mind was beginning to wonder (well more than usual anyway).

He was stuck in a world where everyone thought he was a monster, a psychopath, his friends, his family didn’t even recognise him. His brain was a mix of emotions; part of him wanted to weep at the mere thought of it, that look of disgust from Matty... But the rest of him was angry and determined to fix it whatever this madness was and fascinated by it too. He felt his hands shaking slightly, he closed his fists as his mind calmed down. Mac slowly and methodically got out of the car and took inventory. He pulled out the wallet and keys from pockets of the medical scrubs, he also had a phone. Mac used the keys to open up the phone, he undid the back and pulled out the sim. He threw it on the side of the road, the rest he tossed in the back of the car, his might be useful later brain kicking in. Next he examined the wallet, two hundred bucks and a multiple credit cards. He wondered if this nurse had some other source of income as it seemed a lot of money to be carrying around.

After that, he went through the car boot of the car for, well he wasn’t really sure what he was looking for exactly. Old boots, some paper bags, tool kit, a spare tyre and the means to change it if necessary. There was probably more, but Mac realised he needed to keep driving and find a place to crash and think in a more serious way about his next steps. The ultimate plan was to get back to LA, to home and well fix this…But first and foremost buy a paper, find a place to crash and change his appearance. He smiled at the thought, his blond hair and baby blues that Jack had so often teased him for could get him into trouble now. In a perverse way Mac was grateful Dalton was off saving the world on another continent, he didn’t think he could cope if Jack looked at him the way Matty had. Hell he didn’t know how he was going to cope seeing the rest of them, one step at a time.

He got back in the car and started to drive. He figured he had to come to a motel or a town eventually, the only prayer he offered was that he didn’t run out of gas before then. Mac supposed that the nurse would have enough gas to get him home so in theory he should be fine. But Mac didn’t know that for sure, luck hadn’t exactly been on his side lately. He drove on. After three hours and a worryingly low tank of gas Mac did come to a small town. Not ideal as a small town wouldn’t like a stranger such as himself, but it was the best he had currently. He drove around until he spotted the local convenience store. It was massive and fortunately squished next to a gas station. He parked the car and filled up the tank and went inside to pay, all the while scanning for cameras. Fortunately, he could see nothing, this town look small and abandoned and while not quite lacking in tech certainly a few decades behind. Mac went inside the convenience store, keeping his head down and wondered along the aisles, his eyes still searching. There was a security camera in the store, hardly a shocker, but he kept his head forward letting his mass of long hair cover his face. He also restricted his movements, so the big displays of soda and chips and candy meant his body was always partially hidden.

He grabbed supplies; food and a toothbrush amongst other things and finally what he really wanted a paper. Mac eagerly opened it up to check the date, two weeks had passed since well his life had been turned upside down and the guard has been in right, he was in Texas. Had he really been buried in that hole for that long? It also didn’t bring him any closer to understanding exactly how Murdoc had pulled this off. Mac was distracted from his thoughts by a noise at the counter, he looked up to see an unpleasant scene. A large man with a scraggly looking moustache and pierced ears and nose and a huge leather jacket was talking to the young cashier

_“You owe me! You know that right?? Where is it??”_

The young woman was so scared she could barely speak, she was plastered against the backwall crying

_“I’ll be back tomorrow! I want what I’m owed you understand!! With interest!!”_

The man then walked out slamming the door behind him. The young woman, well girl really half sank down the wall and began to cry. Mac went up to the girl, his better judgement screeching “stay out of it! You’ve got other things to worry about!” in his head. But of course Mac didn’t listen to any of that.

 _“Hey are you alright??”_ he asked

The woman looked at him and took in his let’s called it dishevelled appearance and jumped back.

_“Please don’t be scared! I..I just saw that guy hassling you and I wanted to check you were okay.”_

Despite the state of Mac’s face and general demeanour, his kind tone and those sapphire eyes of his worked their magic and the woman relaxed. She even smiled at him

_“That’s sweet of you hun, I’ll be fine. That guy...he’s just causing trouble, that’s all. You look like you’ve been in the wars yourself? You been in a fight or something?”_

Mac suddenly became very aware of his appearance and was deeply embarrassed. He’d never exactly been vain, but he liked the way he looked and was suddenly aware of the bruises, his tangled hair and how he must look like a mad man. He smiled back at her

_“Something like that”_

_“You need anything else love?”_

Mac’s eyes scanned the store, he spied one of those plastic pairs of glasses you saw sometimes in pharmacy’s and to his relief a change of clothes. He raced to the back of the shop and grabbed a big hoody, some jeans and some underwear as well as everything else he’d picked up originally. The clerk smiled at his clumsiness and rushed nature as he piled everything onto the counter. She pushed some heavy plasters and antiseptic into his hands as well. He paid for everything and then suddenly remembered

_“There a motel around here?”_

_“Sure…about 20 minutes down the road on the right. You sure going to be okay? Here take a map for free”_

Mac nodded gratefully at her, he didn’t really need the map, but he revelled in a moment where someone didn’t look at him like was a monster. He smiled and thanked her and then departed. He followed the woman’s directions and found the motel. He parked and went inside carrying his paper bag of goodies and once again kept his head down. The front desk was dirty and had a weird smell that Mac didn’t particularly want to speculate on. The clerk was reading a magazine and didn’t even look up at Mac’s entrance.

_“What’s your cheapest room?”_

_“30 bucks a night”_

_“Can I have it for two nights?”_

_“Second floor, room 218”_

Mac paid the money and grabbed the key. He shot upstairs as fast as he could and dumped everything on to the bed and locked the door behind him. He breathed a sigh of relief realising for a little while at least he was safe. His eyes scanned the room. A dirty looking single bed, a bedside table, a window and curtains as well as an old tv set and a second door to what Mac presumed was a bathroom. There was carpet under his feet with some intriguing looking stains on it too. But to Mac after days of lying in a bed and cold clinical floors, he almost purred as he pulled his shoes off and let his feet grip the material underneath.

After this initially pleasant sensation he also became painfully aware of how much the rest his body hurt. The near miss with the bullet from earlier in the day was still painful and raw. Mac headed to the bathroom removing the now sticking scrubs and dumping them on the floor. He gazed at his reflection in the mirror for the first time in days. His hair was long dirty mess with various bits standing up on either side. He had the beginnings of an uneven beard on his face. And his face, that was worse. It was horribly thin and there was a black eye and a long red cut that ran from the top of his nose across his whole cheek. He looked down the rest of him. His shoulder had a deep graze on it and various bits of now dried up blood across it. There were two strange bracelets of red and blue bruises forming on his wrists, as he looked down he saw a disturbing matching set on his ankles and chest. He could also see a series of green, purple and yellow marks across his stomach. Little mementoes from his attempted escape after Matty had visited. Mac turned on the dirty shower next to him and stepped under the water. It was a strange sensation, the relief of the water running against his body and little stabs of pain as the water made contact with new bruises and slices that he couldn’t see. He felt a particularly bad cut across his lower back, from a cattle prod maybe? Mac thought. His memories of the last few days were hazy at best. 

Mac continued on determined to focus on the task at hand, he went back into the bedroom wrapped in a towel to look at what he had bought. He smiled when he thought of the cashier's face, first he grabbed the plasters and antiseptic and cleaned up the bullet graze and patched it up, hissing periodically from the pain. Then he grabbed the razor and shaving cream and perhaps most importantly the hair dye. He went back in the bathroom and began to change his appearance as best he could. The beard and dodgy stubble went and his blond hair. The dye he had picked was a kind of muddy red head, the idea was to try and make himself blend in. Eventually it all got done and Mac emerged later with dye all over his fingers but looking very different. He didn't bother to get dressed, instead he pushed the various bits and the brown bag off the bed onto the floor, he picked up the blanket and wrapped it around himself tossing the now damp towel onto the carpet too. He stretched his aching bones. He was of course still determinedly ignoring every other injury he had because there were more important things to deal with. Mac sat on the bed and ran his fingers through his new hair puzzling his next steps. He couldn’t send any of them a message, but…he wanted to check if they were all okay? Could he call his house? Would that be mad? He could try a pay phone, that would be less trackable. His mind dismissed the idea, although he longed to hear Boze laugh or Riley snap at him and Desi, he wanted to hear Desi’s voice perhaps the most. He wanted to hear her to say anything to him, just to know that…just to know that home was there, still waiting for him. But he decided against it, it would put them at risk and potentially give away his own position. So he lay back on the bed and slept, very much alone.


	6. Dreams + Catching up + Cayenne Pepper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been ages like 2 months since I've updated this. I'm so sorry :( Truly I'm really sorry. I've tried to make this chapter bigger as a kind of compensation
> 
> Mac gets himself into trouble and Riley and Boze are in hot pursuit of 'Murdoc'
> 
> Let me know what you think!

Mac turned over and opened his eyes and then she was, Desi, lying next to him sound asleep. He was in his own bed, his home, his mess and multiple projects around him. The LA sunlight was peeking through which made the room nice and warm. The last few days had all been some kind twisted (and long nightmare). But everything was fine again. He smiled at Desi snoring quietly, limbs sprawled out across the bed. He moved to push a strand of her long dark hair out of her face. The movement made her stir and then her eyes snapped open and a look of disgust crossed her face. It was just disgust of course, there was shock and absolute horror on her face too. She pushed herself backwards and ripped the sheets off both of them. In a flash she was out of the bed and her fists were up immediately. Now those dark eyes of hers looked at him with nothing but pure rage; he tried to move towards her

“Desi, What’s wrong? What’s happened?”

Desi backed away from Mac her eyes darting around the room

“Where’s Mac? What have you done with him? What the hell are you going here? How did you get here?”

She moved in front of their chest of drawers, Mac unintentionally was trapping her

“What are you talking about Desi? I’m Mac, you know me!”

As Mac came towards her , she turned her back on him and opened the top drawer. She wiped back round and her gun was trained on him, he put her hands on her shoulders and felt the gun digging into his ribs

“Desi, stop, please!”

“Don’t move a muscle. I will shoot you Murdoc, make no mistake.”

“What?? Desi it’s me! It’s Mac! You know me! That’s crazy, please, it’s Mac!”

There was a gunshot and Mac felt pain spreading across his stomach. He woke up gasping at his stomach, his ribs. But then he looked around for a minute and then groaned loudly, there was no bullet, no gunshot wound. He really had believed that he was back with Desi. But no, he was still in a cheap motel in the middle of nowhere and there was no part of his skin that didn’t have a cut or a bruise on it. The pain he had felt from ‘the dreamed’ gunshot was coming from a real set of injuries. He fell back against the bed, Desi’s look of disgust still fresh in his head. If he saw her, would she really look at him like that? He shook his head in an attempt to try and clear the image from his mind. He stretched out his arm, the bullet graze was still there, and the disturbing bracelets of bruises hadn’t gone (from either of his wrists). At least he wasn’t waking up in restraints, that had to be a positive right? It was a step up from recent mornings. He pulled himself out of bed and immediately regretted it, every muscle, all 650 of them screamed in protest. He moved slowly towards the bathroom and looked in the mirror, blinking the world into focus. He almost did a double take; it wasn’t that he’d forgotten about last night. It was just strange seeing himself with muddy red hair. A black eye from however many days ago was now turning an interesting shade of yellow and green, though there was still a few bits of purple around. He tried to recall when he had got it, maybe when he first tried to escape? Or was it some other guard pushing and shoving? It was odd that he hadn’t registered it the previous night, but then his mind fell just as damaged as the rest of him currently, so perhaps it wasn’t so odd. He switched the tap on and filled up the basin, even his hands looked mangled. He ran his fingers through his hair and picked up on yet another new mysterious injury, a bloodied cut near his hairline.

Then Mac looked down at himself. His whole body just looked miserable and served as a reminder of everything. Suddenly he was back there, batons raining down on him, electricity being pumped into his back. He blinked, but he couldn’t get his head back to the present; now his arms were tightly wrapped around his waist in canvas restraints, unable to move and every person looked at him like he was a psychopath or garbage they had just stepped in.

He managed to switch the taps off and fumbled his way towards the shower and put the faucets on as hot as they would go. It was a painful experience, going under the water, but it did wake him up. The current reality was not good, but he was at least safe, albeit temporarily. He had to try and think about his next course of action. If he was going to survive in this new world where he was ‘Murdoc’, he needed more information. The Phoenix Foundation clearly still existed and Matty still ran it. But what form did it take? Were the others still working for them, for Murdoc? There must be an internet café in this town. He knew couldn’t find much about the Phoenix’s covert activities online, but he thought he could find something about their current PR persona and at least get a sense of how powerful the cover was for the organisation. As to the others; maybe all their lives were completely different?

He could go back to that convenience store from yesterday, it had been huge. It might be a central point in town so they could probably tell him the best place. Maybe a local college? The cashier seemed nice and he figured he should thank her for not freaking out about his appearance too (well not too much). By this time the water had started to go cold, he emerged from the shower much calmer and vaguely clean. The clothes were crumpled on the floor where he’d shoved them the previous night. He got dressed and ran his fingers through his now wet hair. Before Mac departed, he grabbed the glasses and placed them on his nose. It was odd having the world blur around him. However, it did add to his disguise as it gave him a slightly squinted, confused look. He stepped out into the foyer; a new person was at the desk absorbed in a magazine, Mac kept his head down, no point attracting unnecessary attention even in a place like this. It didn’t take him long to find the store and the woman from yesterday was still there. She recognised him immediately, he was a little bit shocked

“Oh, it’s you! You look a little better than yesterday, I like the new hair.”

“I… thanks…is it so obviously me?”

“I guess I recognised the dishevelled look and those baby blues of yours, they’re unmistakable.”

“I guess, I wanted to say thanks for yesterday. I realise I must have looked a real mess and you were nice to me, so thank you.”

“You’re very sweet, you certainly looked like you had been having a tough time. “

There was an awkward pause

“But I’m guessing you want something else?”

“Yes...I…is there like an internet café around here, maybe at a local college or library?”

“Sure, it’s about an hour down the road, maybe 20 minutes if you drive. It’s not a very good library, but it does have an internet. “

“That sounds perfect!”

The cashier smiled at him and he smiled back.

“I could take you if you like”

Mac paused, he was vaguely aware something was happening here that wasn’t related to his escape plans, Murdoc or the Phoenix. He felt rather guilty about it too, but he also didn’t think it was worth making any enemies either. There was also a small part of him that enjoyed this normal conversation, the relief at not being seen as a monster or enemy had still not worn off.

“Sure, what time are you done with your shift?”

“In about two hours.”

He supposed he could just about wait that long

“Can I help with anything while I wait?”

“Just keep me company I’m Anna by the way”

Mac swallowed for a moment

“Jack”

It was the first name that popped into his head, he knew he wouldn’t be able to use his own. And he liked the idea of using Dalton’s name. It offered him some measure of protection (even if it was only psychological) in a world that didn’t make any sense. So, they began to make awkward conversation, Mac leaned against the counter and listened. He got this feeling she just wanted someone to talk too, she seemed very lonely. She’d grown up in this town, but no one really liked her, she’d always wanted to travel and go to college, but never managed it. She had to get a job because her parents had abandoned her early. It was all so sad and Mac desperately wanted to do something for her. She seemed genuine. He fiddled with the glasses he really didn’t need every so often and ran his fingers through his hair. She laughed a little at his apparent nervousness. 

This contented little scene did not last long. Their chatting was interrupted by a loud crash as four huge men stomped into the shop. Anna froze immediately and Mac turned around. It was the men from yesterday. They were vast and red faced, not physical exactly but big and threatening. The leader, the one with the piercings was at the helm. They moved forward and pushed Mac aside, he landed with a crash in the drinks aisle and appeared to be out cold

“We’re here for our money.” The leader her said

Anna scared as she was, stood her ground

“Leave me alone Buck! I told you yesterday.”

Mac moaned from the floor, at this point a second thug moved over to him and kicked him in the ribs. Mac spat blood onto the floor and the already skewed glasses fell off his face, the man stamped on them.

“Keep your mouth shut, this isn’t your business”

Mac was never one to walk away from a fight, however foolish it might have been to get involved.

“You see, it is my business, you made it my business the minute you came in.”

He eased himself up off the floor, the man dragged him up the rest of the way by his hair

“What was that?” he said pulling Mac towards him

At that point, Mac grabbed the paper bag on the top of the shelf nearest to him. It happened to have baking soda in it. He slammed it into the guys face as hard he could, it exploded open and sprayed white powder everywhere and Mac (in a moment Dalton would have been proud of) managed to break the guy’s nose. He dropped MacGyver and screamed. Mac disappeared around the shelves as two of the men came after him. The one with the now bloodied broken nose was furious. Fortunately, the convenience store really was vast, and the thugs were not particularly bright. While they made threatening sounding noises, Mac’s eyes were scanning the shelves. He grabbed cayenne pepper, vinegar, and baking soda and an empty spray bottle

“Who the hell are you even?” the thug asked

“Oh no one important” Mac responded grinning to himself and mixing furiously

“Fine, I’m glad I’m not killing anyone important.”

At this point he found Mac and attacked. Mac held up his device; homemade pepper spray, the man ran away crashing into things and Mac tripped him over with his foot. He fell to the floor with a loud thump, out cold. Mac rounded on his partner (with his wrecked nose)

and turned the painful substance on him, the guy managed to remain on his feet but ran as the lethal combo hit the blood on his face. At this point the two remaining men who had been hovering around Anna and keeping a grip on her moved to grab him (including their fearless leader). He turned the spray on them, and they started a similar screaming process that the others did and tried to stumble away. Mac kicked them both in the back and shoved or dragged them towards the door with a certain level of the glee. The last one turned around and in between coughs and raw eyes

“Who the hell are you???”

“No one important, just stay away from this place and Anna!”

The guy nodded and ran grabbing his colleague and they escaped away. Mac turned around and in the way he always did suddenly registered the level of damage he had caused. He took in the broken shelves and produce, and goods scattered everywhere. Anna was just staring at him, he moved towards to her. She backed away from him

“You don’t need to be scared…they won’t come back”

“Seriously?? Who the fuck are you? And don’t say nobody important. Nobody knows how to do…” She struggled to describe Mac’s unique talent and the chaos around her, she gestured wildly with her hands “that that…”

“Look, it’s just something I do. I saw they were hassling you again and I wanted to help.”

“I..II..”

“I’m sorry if I scared you. I didn’t mean to.”

His heart was sinking as he saw how frightened she was. It was that same look that he thought he had escaped. That ‘oh my god I’m facing a violent psychopath’ look. He really had just wanted to help. Unfortunately, the situation was compounded by the sound of the police showing up. Anna caught his look of panic

“You wanted by the police? Of course are you! Why am I not shocked by that? What did you do?”

“No, I mean yes. But I didn’t do anything I swear.”

“They want you for something thought right?”

“Yes, but…look what they’re going to tell you. It’s not true.”

Anna paused

“There’s a back door. Through the plastic sheeting and a grey door and into a tiny car park.”

“Thank you!”

Mac was off leaving the mess behind. He ran most of the way, slamming the back door behind him. He didn’t stop until he got the motel, the car was still parked out front. He didn’t even bother going back inside. He just got in the car and drove.

**

While Mac once again ran for his life. His ex-team members were on the hunt for him. Matty had told ‘Mac’ to stay put so of course Desi who always looked after ‘Mac’ was with him too. Webber had sent Bozer and Riley to the psychiatric institute to find out exactly what had happened. The send-off was certainly very awkward. Bozer hugged ‘Mac’ in the war room (Murdoc of course tried not to cringe, he’d never been a fan of physical affection unless it was violent of course).

“Don’t worry man, I promise we’ll catch him.”

“I don’t doubt Bozer”

Bozer paused, Mac seemed kind of off. The relaxed demeanour, his whole attitude was strange and why wasn’t Mac jumping at the bit to go. He knew that he would never miss an opportunity to catch Murdoc and wouldn’t want to put his friends in danger either. Bozer watched him stand straight, apparently perfectly calm, maybe he was just keeping a lid on it because of Matty. Bozer departed with Riley in tow

“Be safe the two of you!” Mac called

Now that was more like it, still it was odd Bozer thought. He remained quiet until they were on the Phoenix jet until Riley got it out of him

“Alright, what’s up? What’s eating you?” she snapped at him

“What! Nothing, okay.” Bozer snapped back

“There’s clearly something up, you’re all weird and tense and not very Bozerish”

“Bozerish??” He snorted

“Get to the point and spill Boze”

“Fine, it’s Mac”

“I’m shocked. Go on”

“It’s hard to describe, he just seems off. Not like himself, he’s oddly cold and not very talkative.”

“Mac, not talking about his feelings. Again I’m shocked.” Riley said leaning back in her seat

“Point made, I can’t put my finger on it exactly, there’s just something weird about him. Weirder than usual I mean.”

“Maybe, it’s Murdoc Bozer. The idea of him escaping freaks me out, imagine what’s it doing to Mac. Murdoc’s always had a creepy soft spot for him, imagine what that might be doing to him. It sounds like he’s gone even more mad than before, Webber told me about his act when they visited the institute, his whole I’m really MacGyver routine. It sounded absolutely bizarre.”

Bozer responded by shuddering

“So, maybe Mac’s disturbed by that. The fact that his obsession has gone so beyond what even was before.”

“I don’t know…”

“Worrying about him in absentia is not going to help.”

“Again point taken, what we go in terms of the mission?”

“Basically, interview everyone there and see if we can find anything. I need to check if any of the primitive tech has been tampered with, maybe interview some people in the area, it’s possible Murdoc had help, although him accepting help from anyone...”

“Yeah, what about the CCTV? I mean I watched in the foundation, but it’s still…Anyway, show it to me again.”

Riley shifted positions and opened her laptop, they watched the CCTV again. The scene was no less bizarre the second time around. She remembered the first time she saw Mac pull this trick or at least read about it in the report afterwards. It was the first time they had met Murdoc, maybe it was a creepy kind of homage to that first time? They were both thoughtful when the plane landed in Texas at the tiny private airport. The head of the hospital met them there and had arranged a car for them. He also gave them a summary of ‘Murdoc’s behaviour’ in the last two weeks. His attempts at escape, the methods the hospital had to use to restrain him. Neither of them felt much sympathy, Murdoc had made their lives hell for months on end and he was dangerous, it was good or it had been good that he was locked up. Their job now was now to put him back there. They met with nurse and her partner whom Murdoc has held hostage. They decided to interview them separately so they couldn’t influence each other. Riley went first and spoke to the boyfriend first and left Bozer ‘to work his magic’ (his words, not hers).

Bozer didn’t go into the room at the hospital that had been set up for them. He did what he knew what he was good at, he hovered until he spotted the girlfriend. She was sitting in the middle of a bank of plastic chairs as far away from the interview room as she could have managed without being out of sight. Bozer walked over to her and perched on the chair next to her

“Hiya, I’m Bozer.”

She jumped and didn’t offer her name

“I know you must be super scared at the moment, but I promise I don’t bite.”

“You’re from the foundation right?”

“Yep”

“Am I in trouble? Because me and Cayden we didn’t do anything.”

“Of course not!! We just want to know what happened that’s all.”

“It’s just the way everyone’s talking, it’s like we did something wrong. And we didn’t! I mean…he...he”

“Try and relax, the man we’re after: Murdoc is a scary guy, you’ve done nothing wrong. I’m sure you must have been terrified. I mean, I know what it’s like to be scared of him. When I first met him, he threatened me, put a gun to my head, I was sure he was going to kill me.”

The woman looked at him

“That’s the thing though, I’m not sure he was going to kill me.”

Bozer gawped at her

“Look, I was terrified and at the time. I was like, oh my god. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. But the more I think about it, it’s weird. Like he put this knot thing around my neck, he had some fancy name for it and he says this whole, the more you scream, the tighter it gets and I’ll throttle you speech.”

“Sounds like Murdoc to me.”

“But the thing is, I remember he kept his finger on my neck the whole time it was there. So like, he couldn’t have killed me. And when I first came into the room he literally said he doesn’t want to hurt me, he says please don’t look so scared, I’m not who they say I am. I’m not a murderer or a psychopath. I just need to get out of here and…find my friends.”

“It could have been a trick, Murdoc’s very good at that.”

“I know, I mean. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything.”

“No, thank you for telling me. It’s interesting for sure. Can you remember anything else about it?”

The woman thought for a while, Bozer sat next to her, patient and quiet. Let witnesses speak, it was amazing how much people could remember if they just calmed down a bit.

“He looked scared”

“I’m sorry what?”

“Like a trapped animal or something, he desperately needed to escape. I suppose that’s not so surprising. I guess I just thought, the head of the Institute briefed us a bit on Murdoc and we’d warned about him when he came here too. He was dangerous, be watchful, be vigilant. I guess….I just figured with this guy Murdoc and his reputation. I just thought he’d be more I don’t know…terrifiying. He mostly looked confused and frightened.”

Bozer was stunned. Riley at this point came racing out.

“Bozer, we gotta go. I’ve got a hit on Murdoc, the car he stole, it was picked up by a security camera in a local town.”

“Thank you, you’ve been really helpful. Thank you so much um..”

“It’s Kayleigh.”

“Okay Kayleigh, we gotta go.

“Let me know if you catch him!”

“Sure, bye!”

Then Riley and Bozer were off back to the car and off in hot pursuit of ‘Murdoc’. The hospital let them borrow the car to continue their investigation. They made it to the town, not long after MacGyver had fled. Riley drove at top speed (Jack had taught her to drive when she was probably too young to learn it). As they raced away Bozer filled Riley on the bizarre story he just been told, she was as shocked as he was.

“What about the boyfriend?”

“Not much, I mean the only thing he did say that sparked my interest was he kept his word. Yeah I know, basically he said that since Cayden and his girlfriend had done what they were told, he wouldn’t kill them.”

“Not very..”

“I know, I mean when does Murdoc pass up an opportunity for extra violence?”

In no time at all they got to the town, Riley stopped the car and pulled her laptop up and directed them towards the motel camera that had spotted the car. Bozer struggled to see it at first, it was a tiny dot hidden in the wall. They asked the non-committal desktop clerk about the car and he didn’t help, said he didn’t recognise it. Both of them were on the edge of screaming

“There was this guy though, he came in looking real beat up.”

“What did he look like?”

“Blue eyes…might have been blonde, couldn’t tell he looked a mess.”

Both of them lit up, the blue eyes were the giveaway. It was Murdoc’s trademark and a indicator of how stressed he was that he didn’t cover them up or hide them.

“Room number now!” Riley snapped

“218”

They grabbed the key and almost pushed each other out of the way to look in it. However the room ended up providing more questions than answers. Riley called up Matty to get a Phoenix team to examine the room while Bozer explored. It was not what they had expected, the mess, the chaos and more importantly no weapons, not even handmade ones. There were a few supplies, the remains of the hospital gear he’d obviously escaped in and hair dye, the blond hair was obviously gone now, they were now looking for a red head. Bozer was trying to wrap his around the whole scene, it added to the uneasy feeling in his stomach about this situation. He went back to the front desk

“Where else did this guy go?”

“Nowhere, I wasn’t on.”

“He must have wanted something”

“He did ask me the first day he turned up, where the convenience store was – twenty minutes that way”

Bozer went back and explained or half explained his plan. He couldn’t quite iterate what he was feeling. Riley nodded and said she would wait for the tac team, she started writing a program to recognise Murdoc’s new face and continued to spool through the CCTV to try and track the car. Bozer nodded vaguely and shot off. The shop wasn’t hard to find, he found it in chaos, with police around it. It was heavily taped off and there were a lot of local cops around, not apparently doing much. Bozer went up casually, trying to blend in

“Wow, this looks crazy. What happened?”

One of the detectives spun around and glared

“Who the hell are you?”

“Not anyone, just me and my girlfriend are staying in town. I just came to buy a couple of things.”

“Ahh okay, I suggest you avoid this area then.”

“You mind telling me what happened? Should me and my girlfriend go home?”

“It’s best you head home. A dangerous man is on the loose in this town and could be a threat to anyone.”

“Wow, I mean…how badly were people hurt? Is he like a murderer?”

“Now look young man!”

A female voice interrupted their conversation

“He’s not a psychopath or a murderer! None of you are listening to me. He was just a bit weird. He saved my life, don’t you get that?? You really are a bastard Rick! Just Buck is one of your mates, you should have been there! You turned up too late!”

“We came as soon as we heard a disturbance Anna.”

“Bullshit, everyone knows what Buck is like. Him and his buddies, you saw them coming into the store and did nothing!”

The cop; Rick glared at Anna and was about to retort. However thought better of it, Bozer continued to wait next to the tape

“Who?” Anna looked at him

“Who helped you? If you don’t mind me asking”

“He called himself Jack”

The day just kept getting weirder and weirder

“What did he look like?”

“Blue eyes, red hair. He’d been seriously hurt, he looked kinda fragile. But when Buck came with his buddies, he didn’t hesitate, he attacked those guys. It was violent, but I don’t know like odd too. I mean he took them out with baking powder and some cayenne pepper.”

“That’s enough young lady!” Rick snapped

He came forward and hustled away. Bozer virtually ran back to the motel to tell Riley what he had found. The forensic team didn’t take long to arrive, Bozer and Riley had a conference with Matty in a quiet corner outside the motel

“What??” was Matty’s opening reaction after Bozer had explained everything

“I think maybe Murdoc really does think he is Mac? I mean it’s all very him isn’t it?” Bozer said excitedly

“Maybe he has lost his mind” Riley added “well what was left of it?”

Matty remained silent, her little incident the CCTV was playing around in her head.

“I want you to keep tracking him, find that car and catch up to him. Monitor but do not engage, alert me and I’ll get a team to you. If you have to trap him somewhere that’s it. If he really does think he is MacGyver, maybe he’ll be easier to catch.”

“Shouldn’t Mac be here? If Murdoc is pretending to him, doesn’t Mac have a right to know? Maybe he could anticipate his next move?”

“Mac is doing that from LA. And No! Under no circumstances are you to speak to Mac about this. Murdoc is always more complicated for Mac. I’ll talk to him, I want him here. And if Murdoc plays true to form, LA is where is heading….he’s going after…Mac as he always does. We can be ready for him just in case you guys don’t manage to catch him.”

“Thanks for the vote of confidence Matty” Bozer snapped, Riley put a calming hand on Bozer’s shoulder

“Okay Matty, I’m running a program to try and pick up Mac, I mean Murdoc’s face now. It should get something soon and I’m still scanning the CCTV to get a glimpse of the car.”

“Let me know the minute you get him, do not go after him on your own. We all know how dangerous Murdoc is, I don’t want any of you going anywhere near him.”

“Okay Matty”

“Understood”

“I mean it guys”

They shut off the laptop and Bozer looked at Riley.

“We’re going after him, right?”

“Of course!”

**Author's Note:**

> This is so wrong on so many levels as an idea. But did you guys like it? Should I try and make it a series?


End file.
